I take off on Wednesday for 107 days of European fun. I spent a similar amount of time in Europe two summers ago and managed to update my blog all of 11 times, so I don't know how much hope I hold out for my dedication to blogging this time around but we shall see.
I received confirmation of my class schedule at Vrije Universiteit (only time I'm typing that out, VU from now on). Basically it consists of 4 hours a week for September and October then kicks up to a whopping 7.5 hours a week for November and December. No exams in the November-December classes though to make up for the trying courseload. I could not be more excited.
I already hit my first travelling snafu this morning when I received an email from a woman at the hotel where I had booked my first two nights in Amsterdam (arrive Saturday, can't move into my dorm room until Monday). The email read:
Hello Moira,
Somehow you made a reservation for a single room that is not available.
Very sorry!
Please make a new booking elsewhere! I really cannot help it; it is a failure in the system.
Hope you'll forgive me.
Still slightly confused by this but I decided to forgive her and book elsewhere. After a couple of hours of Travelcuts and Tripadvisor and Hotwire and expedia searching I've booked a room that was slightly out of my pricerange but the only one I could find that was available and not labelled "Horrible!" "Disgusting, Bedbugs!" or "Worst Stay of my Life!" by Tripadvisor reviewers.
I fly out Wednesday at around 5pm, and have a master plan to pull close to an all-nighter the night before, take a bunch of gravol and drink a couple of glasses of red wine upon boarding the plane and then blissfully sleep the transatlantic flight away and arrive in London at 10am Thursday fresh as a daisy. No way this can backfire. I'm spending a couple of days in London with my mother doing very motherdaugthery things such as seeing a play, going to afternoon tea, seeing another play and shopping. After perusing the Savoy Cocktail Book I've decided a $35 cocktail at that hotel might be an idea as well.
As happy as I am to be starting what's sure to be an amazing and ridiculous journey, as I write I'm looking out at this:
and am more than a little sad to be leaving. (The picture doesn't even really do it justice, it doesn't feel as grey as that photo looks).
But I'm leaving Wednesday no matter what so to Vancouver and Victoria and everyone reading this and everyone else, goodbye! And I hope this blog proves to be even mildly entertaining to someone other than myself.
